POKEMON: The Search For Truth
by Umbrae Calamitas
Summary: Follow Tuesday Berdison as she begins her pokemon journey, seeking to find her missing father and her own identity. Stumbling into a series of bad luck and unlikely adventures, she meets many friends, and too many foes...


**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Hello, all, and welcome to _POKEMON: The Journey for Truth_. This fic is mainly concerning an original character of mine, named Tuesday Berdison. In this chapter, you will meet Tuesday as a twenty-seven year old pokemon researcher, and she is going to tell you the story of her life and pokemon journey, through young pokemon trainer, Madeline.

Now, I know everyone cringes at the idea of an original character, but I can promise you that I abhor Mary-Sue characters as much, if not more, than the rest of you. Fear not for the safety of your minds. The brain-sucking cliché original characters will not be making an appearance here. There will, however, be various new types and evolutions of pokemon, so be warned (or, preferably, excited).

This fic will cover the beginning of Tuesday's journey, but her story is likely to traverse a number of fics. I hope that those of you who stick around and enjoy the fic will also be kind enough to review. Ask questions, make suggestions, offer ideas for trainers to do battle with – all reviews and thoughts are welcome and appreciated.

**DISCLAIMER: **I stake no claim on Pokemon. That is the property of Nintendo and thousands of other people and companies, and I have no money, so suing me would be a fruitless endeavor. While Tuesday is a character of my own creation, Jaima and Meiko Kuonji are products of Jai-kun's imagination, while Darryn Kellor (who will be mentioned in greater detail later) is a product of livingarrow87's.

Thank you, I hope you enjoy, and, as always…

_Live long. Live well. Write._

**POKEMON**

**I**

**- The Journey for Truth -**

"A bit late, aren't you, Madeline?"

The small ten-year-old glanced up from under thick red bangs, gazing with uncertainty at the woman before her. Her large green eyes were huge and filled with awe, as they studied the woman with long, curly blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was dressed in a pair of heavy brown cargo pants and a black shirt, with a dark green lab jacket hanging down to her ankles. She wore a pair of black hiker boots, and there were a pair of leather biker gloves on her hands, the fingers cut out of them. She was giving young Madeline an amused smile, her soft violet eyes dancing in amusement.

"Yes, ma'am," Madeline squeaked.

The woman chuckled, her eyes closing as she gave herself to her mirth. She offered the young girl a smile when she had calmed herself and then turned around, motioning her to follow. "Come along, Madeline, and we'll decide what you're going to get as a pokemon next week."

These being the comforting words needed, Madeline dashed to follow after the young researcher. Professor Berdison lived in a large laboratory that sat on the top of a hill, the power generated by windmills located behind the building. The land surrounding it – approximately sixty acres – was a mixture of meadow, forest, and lake. Pokemon roamed freely among the land and it was protected from those who might think to capture the pokemon by a wide-spread fence, and watchful eyes.

Stepping into the lab, one would think they had not truly seen the outside of the building. Where the exterior appeared distinctly modern, the interior of the building was a complete contrast. Rather than walking into a linoleum-floored lab, as Madeline had expected to (she'd never been into Professor Berdison's house before), they stepped into a foyer that led directly into a large living room.

The room was painted with dark, cool colors, but had a warm, cozy feeling to it. The carpet was dark blue, thick and squishy beneath Madeline's feet, and the blazing fire in the hearth sent shadows cascading across a heavy wooden coffee table and a dark brown, suede couch. Bookcases laden with too many books for each shelf covered every part of the wall not containing the rare window or painting.

Madeline's eyes were taking in every detail hungrily. Now that she was looking for them, she saw that there were a number of pictures covering every available space. Paintings hung in a pattern along the walls, interspaced between bookcases, with one large one hanging above the fireplace, but there were pictures grouped around the fireplace, and a lot of them sitting on the mantle above the hearth.

Curious, Madeline walked over to the hearth to study the pictures. She passed by bookcases full of both reference and recreational reading material, much of which she would have found interesting, to gaze at the photos of various people.

The most common element was a young girl with shoulder-length, curly blonde hair and violet eyes. In most pictures, she wore a purple bandana on her head, and she always had a messenger bag slung over her shoulder. There was no doubt in Madeline's mind that this was Professor Berdison when she was little.

The other characters varied from pokemon to human. There was a series of photographs containing young Professor Berdison with a Charmander and a Pikachu. There was sometimes an older girl in the picture, with dark red hair, or a boy who always had a Kadabra by his side. A few other people, some Madeline recognized (like Professor Oak, Professor Berdison's predecessor), but none of them stopped Madeline in her tracks until she saw the picture in the center of the mantle.

She turned swiftly to Professor Berdison, her eyes wide. The professor was smiling softly at her.

"You know Feraligatr Hunter Jai?!"

Professor Berdison, who had been standing back and watching Madeline explore in silence, stepped up next to her now, chuckling. "Indeed," she said softly, admiring the photo. It was picture of her when she was thirteen, standing with a riolu in her arms, a tall boy behind her, his hand on her shoulder. He had a long blonde braid and intelligent, gentle eyes. Jaima Kuonji, Feraligatr Hunter. "He wanted to use the name Traveling Field Man, but his wife and I managed to convince him to go with something a tad more… _exotic_." She grinned.

Madeline gazed at her with wide eyes, her mouth slack. Professor Berdison smiled at her. "You seem surprised, Madeline."

"But Jai's… huge. He's uber-famous! How do you know him?!"

Professor Berdison chuckled, then motioned toward the large painting above the fireplace. Madeline tilted her head back, and only then did she realize that this painting contained Jaima, as well.

"You see," Professor Berdison explained, "Jaima and I traveled together for some time, with a few others coming and going. In the end, there were four of us that stuck together." She chuckled. "They called us Team Rogue."

Madeline listened with half an ear, taking in every word like a sponge, though her eyes were on the painting. There were four humans, as Professor Berdison had said, and each with six pokemon surrounding them. She recognized the two unfamiliar humans from the photographs on the mantle, and distantly noted that the Feraligatr seemed to be the red-headed girl's most prominent pokemon, while the beautiful, intelligent-eyed Vulpix was obviously the boy's. Madeline's eyes, however, were for Jaima and Professor Berdison alone.

They stood the closest together, their positions of ease showing how comfortable they were in each other's company. Jaima held the red-headed girl's hand in his right, but his eyes seemed to stay on Professor Berdison. She was younger in this picture than she was now, probably in her late teens or early twenties. She looked like she could hold her own, with the pokemon surrounding her, but Jaima still looked at her like a protector – a hovering older brother, much like Madeline's big brother, Frederick.

Unlike the other boy and the red-head, Jaima's pokemon surrounded him on all sides, as though he couldn't _not_ be with one of them. Still, he seemed connected more closely to two of his pokemon, though Madeline wasn't sure that those two could be separated.

The tall, muscular lucario gazed out from the painting with eyes full of a strength Madeline knew she had yet to experience. Half of his attention was obviously, however, still rooted to the Gardevoir at his side, his paw in her hand. They seemed to gravitate toward each other, and circle around Jaima as though he were a planet and they were twin moons.

Young Professor Berdison, as well, seemed to have two pokemon she was closer to than the others, though it was obvious that all of her pokemon meant the world to her from the number of photos and paintings around the room. Curled around them all was a massive Charizard, its skin a darker red than anything that Madeline had ever seen. His head was resting at Professor Berdison's feet, but his eyes were open and he gazed out of the painting with such a realistic look that Madeline was waiting for him to blink.

Sitting on Professor Berdison's shoulder was a Raichu. She was gazing out of the painting with something akin to a smirk on her face, as though she had won an argument. Behind her stood another lucario, this one more slender than the first, with a mischievous twinkle in his painted eyes, as though something were about to unfold that he would undoubtedly get in trouble for, but didn't care.

Madeline turned to the professor. "Team Rogue?" she asked.

"Yes," Professor Berdison replied, smiling fondly at the memory. "We had a habit of falling into somewhat disastrous situations, such as a confrontation with Team Deception, involving both Shadow Conversion and pokemon thievery." She chuckled. "There was a lot of pokemon thievery, but that's what brought Jaima and I together, in the first place."

"What happened?" Madeline asked, her eyes lighting up at the idea of a story.

Professor Berdison chuckled. "That's a long story, Madeline," she said softly, "and I didn't meet Jaima until long after my journey had already begun."

Madeline shrugged. "You said my pokemon wouldn't be here until next week, right?" She offered an innocent smile. "Please, Professor Berdison?"

Sighing, then laughing, Professor Berdison plopped down onto her couch with a grin. She patted the seat next to her, and Madeline crawled up to take a seat.

"All right," Professor Berdison began, smiling fondly at Madeline's look of rapt attention, "it all began when I was twelve years old. I was two years later than most other trainers, but more than ready to start my pokemon journey…"


End file.
